Road to Perdition
A great gangster film with minimal fuss or clichés. Sam Mendes doesn't make many but when he does they are always memorable. Mendes' skill at portraying relationships, seen in American Beauty and Revolutionary Road are very much showcased in Road to Perdition. Tom Hanks gives a reserved, controlled and distant performance. I do like Hanks but I am always more aware of him rather than finding myself immersed into his characters. Nonetheless his gruff fatherly approach to Michael Sullivan works well. A great cast including Jude Law in a sinister creepy assassin role, Daniel Craig as a spoilt son and the fantastic Paul Newman. The whole premise revolves around fatherhood and duty and the gangster elements enhance rather than devalue the plot.
The film is beautifully and sentimentally shot with a real sense of occasion. It is thoroughly enjoyable and provokes a great range of emotions.
City of God
Fantastic brutal film where it is impossible to predict the unfurling events. Filmed in favellas in Brazil, we find ourselves mesmerised and terrified at the lifestyle that is so far removed from our seat in the multiplex. Lil Ze is fearsome and truly unpredictable and we are thrilled by the danger. The narrative mainly stems from Rocket's camera offering an objective uncompromising view point which gives the audience familiar photos they would have seen from Brazilian favellas but with additional context.
The film is beautifully made, showing a life far away but with strong authentic characters. I am reminded of Goodfellas but it doesn't go as over the top and the action seems much more visceral and confrontational. Rather than a Scorsese soundtrack, we are treated to beautifully frantic vistas of Brazil. It is intense, exciting and very well balanced.
28 Days Later
A zombie film without zombies! Danny Boyle delivers an original horror film right on to the streets of England and delivers it at a frightening pace. The iconic London scene still moves me today. The apocalyptic wasteland depicted is made all the more scary due to the lack of special effects and the sense of realism. The realism is the strongest aspect of this film, my girlfriends stays away from 'zombie' films as she claims they are too unrealistic to make sense or scare her. However you really feel part of the action as an witness rather than viewer. The psychological infection, rather than physical, makes the infected scarier as does their speed. There is something scarier about being pursued from sprinting infected rather than a sleepwalking one.
Cillian Murphy gets launched on to the big screen with a fantastic every man performance and is supported well by Brendon Gleeson, Christopher Eccleston and Naomi Harris. A measured beginning, evolves into a frightening realisation of how people would indeed react if this was real. In fact, the scariest creatures are the soldiers acting under the pretence of protection but their motivations become ever more terrifying. One of the things I liked about The Mist was that the scariest characters were not the bugs outside, but the people coping with the stress inside. 28 Days Later is violent but its more violent mentally than physically and will never be made obsolete by bigger budget features.
Russian Ark
Directed by Aleksandr Sokurov, this film was filmed in continuous shot and it only took 4 attempts which is just incredible and achieved in one day.. Set inside the Winter Palace, we are taken through the interior and, in dream like fashion, witness the last
300 years of Russian history and culture. The attention to details is fantastic and each room represents something new and exciting about Russia's identity. Sokourov, like many Russians, is incredibly passionate about Russia's identity and sees the Winter Palace as the gatekeeper to all that has been important to Russia. We see a real sense of pride and awareness and the style and pace is so hypnotic we too feel as if we are in the same dream as the camera. The full version is on Youtube, I recommend watching uninterrupted.to get the full feeling. The direction is innovative and mesmerising and you cant help feeling afterwards that you've witnessed something tremendous and spiritual.
Insomnia
Christopher Nolan's remake of the same titled Norwegian film delivers fantastic performances from actors who, to put it kindly, weren't actually on form. Too many of Pacinos post 1990 films have been shouty and charisma driven rather than balanced and the less said about Patch Adams the better. Though he clearly is capable of grand performances, see Good Will Hunting and One Hour Photo. Nolan brings his excellent acting coaching skills to the forefront and creates a real feel of dread and mystery to a very uneventful film. So much is driven by mental fatigue and paranoia, it is a tribute to Nolan that the pace doesn't suffer.
The dark mysterious setting is perfect to amplify the cloud, mist and confusion mentally preoccupying Pacino and the interplay between Williams and Pacino is exciting and threatening. We are relatively confident as to how the film will end but we are drawn in slowly and the slow tempo gets very disorientating. As the action unfolds we are as weary as Pacino and almost as paranoid. A really well delivered film, showing that it is OK to be slow paced and methodical.
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